The government of Pakistan introduced new automotive policy 2016-21 in a bid to attract foreign automakers and to help the local automobile industry. Just like every other policy, plan and law, this automotive policy also has its share of pros and cons. In this write-up, I will be giving you a brief overview and discuss the positive changes, which the auto policy has brought and also where the government failed to implement this in its true spirit.
So, let’s start with the invasion of foreign automakers in the country. Without a doubt, after introducing the new automotive policy, the government has tapped many new automakers to come into the country such as Kia, Hyundai and Renault. Hyundai has even started its assembly plant in Faisalabad and Renault will soon follow it by making its assembly plant in the same city. Moreover, Volkswagen is also reportedly planning to come to Pakistan. It merely means that the government’s auto policy is a good one, which is why the international automakers are coming in.
Read Also: Automotive Policy of Pakistan 2016-2021
Aside from making efforts to tap international automakers, the government has made a significant effort to uplift the local brands.
Under the automotive policy 2016-21, the government has granted Greenfield and Brownfield statuses to many local brands which are as follow:
- Dewan Motors – After receiving the Brownfield status, the company launched its iconic pickup truck Shehzore in collaboration with Daehan in the Pakistani market once again. Moreover, it is also reported that Dewan is planning to launch SsangYong’s Tivoli in Pakistan as well.
- Ghandhara Nissan after much wait has also been given Brownfield status and it is expected that the company will launch Datsun cars in the country.
- Regal Automobile Industries Limited was given a Greenfield status, and after that, the company has set up a vehicle assembly and manufacturing unit in Lahore industrial area.
- Sazgar Engineering Works has also been granted with a Greenfield status, and now the company is all geared up to invest PKR 1.79 billion in the local automobile industry.
- Local bike manufacturing company United Autos is also bringing their vehicles this year; the company is committed to taking full advantage of the auto policy.
These are some of the achievements which the government achieved after introducing the new automotive policy. However, there are things which the government failed to implement. The government was unsuccessful in forcing the existing Japanese brands to lessen the delivery time of their respective vehicles. On the contrary, at the start of this year, not only premium but the delivery time of the cars reached an all-time high.
In an interview, the Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi admitted that few of the local manufacturers are not following the auto policy in both letter and spirits. They are not providing the cars to customers in the sixty-day time frame as mentioned in the auto policy.
Moving onwards, the government’s SROs have also damaged the auto policy 2016-21. Under the auto policy, the authority assured that long-term policy would be followed for stable automobile market; however, it issued SRO 1035(1)/2017 and 1067(1)/2017 last year in October, which created a lot of fuss in the local automobile market. Auto manufacturers and car dealers criticised the government’s actions and urged to stop this SRO culture as it hurts the auto policy, economy of the country and their businesses as well.
This was a brief overview of auto policy, all in all, the government achieved some results and failed to gain some. Hope, it will achieve as great results as possible by 2021.
That’s it from our side, drop your thoughts in the comments section below.
